Elite sportsman salaries are getting ridiculous and fans are having to pay more and more. Is it too much? After an expensive night at the Rugby Super 12's Reds v Ottago at Ballymore on saturday afternoon, I thought it would be a good idea for a post to gauge ticket prices for sporting events around the world and see how local fixtures compere.

Can we do it in USD though to make comparisons easier?
Easy currency exchange

For reasonable seats at the following Aussie sporting matches -

Super 12's Ballymore - $35 USD (Beer at Ballymore cost $3 USD a cup! Disgraceful)
Local NRL at ANZ Stadium - $20 USD
State Of Origin Rugby league Telstra Stadium - $68 USD
Rugby Union test Aus v NZ Telstra Stadium - $100 USD
Rugby Union test Aus v Wales Telstra Stadium $67 USD
Rugby World Cup Final Premium seat (if you're lucky enough to get one - $292 USD
Sydney Swans AFL Sydney Cricket Ground - $38USD
WWA Wrestling (can you call it sport?) - $58 USD
Surfers Indy300 Sunday only pass (not seated) - $45 USD

How about the American NFL, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and the English soccer matches etc. Irish Hurling anyone?

it depends here in the states
generally, very expensive though

Baseball is by far the cheapest
because there are 162 game in a season
so counting roughly 81 home games
you can see that they can be cheap
LA Dodgers tickets range from $5 to $40

Now for LA basketball and hockey
things get far more expensive, only 82 games in a season
that's because Staples Center is new and state of the art
the LA Lakers are very hot
$20 for nosebleed and nearly $300 for courtside
and the luxury suites...forget about it
LA Kings also play in Staples...ticket prices are cheaper for hockey...not as hot
LA Clippers also play in Staples, but cheaper tickets since the Clips suck.

LA Galaxy soccer/football the all new Home Depot Stadium
not too bad, cause football not a big deal in the states

Football, 16 game season
excruciating ticket prices...usually anywhere from $20 to nearly $500

and playoff games are ridiculous
I saw decent seats at Staples for the LA Lakers Game 4 against the Spurs going for nearly $200 face value

and the concessions are pretty ludicrous as well

Season tickets for Leicester City in the Premier League next season will cost between 750 and 850 AUD. (Under 12's the season ticket is 150 AUD)
Leicester Football Club (AKA the Tigers) - You just can't get tickets unlkess you are a member and Season Tickets are like gold dust - very hard to obtain - Match tickets you can only get on the gate when they go on sale for a few minutes. (No Touts or inflated prices - life bans for any members caught selling tickets)
Leicestershire Cricket Club - Season ticket Adult - 110 AUD,
Life Membership is 1200 AUD, Under 13's year member 10 AUD(that's not a misprint! it's 10 Australian Dollars for the complete season)
All the above tickets are non-transferable and can only be used by the peron purchasing the season ticket.

Fosse, how much is it to see club rugby and club rugby league in England?

Generalising here but for both Union and League the ordinary (league fixtures, not Cup games) tickets appear to be between 25 (standing - still allowed at Rugby!) and 50(Main Stand seating) AUD (with concessions for juniors, OAP's.).

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Geez, people just won't learn will they?

Back on track. What I want to know is, Bertho, do you have a ticket to the World Cup final?

I reckon it's getting out of control, we keep hearing about getting younger kids into the sports and what not but how the heck do parents afford to take little Johhny and co to any sporting event when the admission price is so expensive let alone the cost of food and so on.

Bertho - I'm sorry to see this thread being invaded by the advertisers as I too would like to know the prices paid to watch your local team whatever the sport. Please be either specific (Season tickets for XXXX team cost xxx OR give us an average cost of a ticket per game (normal games, not play-offs, cup ties etc)

Hi Copago - ConorCopago (under 12's) could buy a season ticket for Leicester City for next year - Premier Division - see all the top teams, Manchester United etc for less than One Pound UK per week(think that equates to about 2 AUD per week). Leicester has had it's Family Night Football for a number of years to encourage the little ones to be fans and to show parents it's safe to take your youngster to football and have a good night out.
Clubs should be giving the tickets away free to the under 18's at all opportunities , these are the fans they will rely on in a few years time to be buying the top price season tickets.

No probs.. I'm actually curious what they were advertising lol.

here's a WCR wrap up.. I'll local sport in another post..

I'm a bit fortunate as I got a jump on pool tickets. Only had to do the lottery for finals. ARU players got a jump on the public for these matches. I scored about 100 tickets for pool games and ended up with 40 final tickets (Brisbane finals). Ex test players were also offered final tickets at reduced prices without going into the lottery. The big game was $450 for ex test players, but I imagine the public would have paid a lot more. I nearly scored two of these tickets in a private sale off a test player.. missed it by that much.. I'm waffling again..

This is what I was offered for 'A' seats before tickets went on sale. I imagine the pricing would have been similar if not the same for normal public sale.

By state -
ACT 4 games
QLD 12 games (2 semi finals)
VIC 7 games (2 semi finals)
SA 2 games
WA 5 games (inc England and SA match)
TAS 1 game
NSW 17 games (2 semi, play off 3&4 and final)

Brisbane Suncorp Stadium 52000 seats (the only rectangular field major stadium)
France v Fiji $55
Scotland v Japan $30 (Townsville)
Fiji v USA $20
Australia v Romania $70
NZ v Tonga $75
England v Uruguay $45
Qtr Final X 2 (ballot games) $295

Melbourne Telstra Dome 54,000 seats
NZ v Italy $80
Wales v Canada $50
Australia v Ireland $140
Qtr finals X 2 $295 (by ballot)

Aussie Stadium 80,000 seats
France v Scotland $140
Argentina v Romania $25
NZ v Wales $140
Semi Finals X 2 (ballot) - $420
Final (ballot) - $535

Everyone has the chance to see World Cup games. They have spread them out quite well and B country games are very affordable.

Out here, since Football (soccer) isn't so popular (except in few states like Kerala, Goa and Bengal), the prices are pretty cheap.
You could watch a league virtuall for less than a dollar and still no one watches it (speaks volumes about the quality)

You might be unlucky NOT to walk-in and watch a Ranji Trophy match (Chief Domeastic cricket tournament)

The only place where Tickets prices actually matter is an International Cricket match.
If India is there, it could be from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000. ($10 to $200)
Only problem is you NEVER get the ticket!Its always 'sold out'

We've just had our Arsenal season ticket renewal forms. This year they're asking for £825.

40 years ago, the highest price of a season ticket for Manchester United was £8.50
When I had a season ticket for the 2000-01 season, the price was £456, which has doubled since the premiership began in 1992-93!

A season ticket, reserved seating, for the Tigers Rugby League team (12 home games) is AUD$240 adult, $180 concession, and $60 for under 16's. Bearing in mind that the Tigers aren't the greatest team ever at the moment (but I live in hope that will change ) so I've no doubt that the better teams are more expensive.

Sorry Bertho - interrupting the thread but QM curious.
Brisbane Suncorp (Only rectangular stadium) for which sport(s)?

Hey Fosse, mate, you're very observant. Here's a wrap of all the Brisbane facilities

The revamped Suncorp Stadium (52,000) is the old Lang Park (28,000) and has traditionaly been used for rugby league and the odd rugby international that Ballymore couldn't fit. The Brisbane Broncos (league team) will be returning to it as their home pitch. Lang Park was always brilliant as no matter where you're seating you were so close to the action.

In Brisbane we also have Ballymore (another rectangular field)which is the cozy home of Rugby and seats 22,000. Super 12 has nearly out grown it and it needs a facelift urgently. I can see all major internationals going to Suncorp now.

ANZ Stadium is around 40,000 seats and was built for the Commonwealth games. it still has the running track. The Broncos moved there a few years ago when their crowds were bigger but being an oval it never suited the game.

The Gabba (about 32000 I think) I'm sure you know is the home of the Queensland cricket side and hosts a test match and 2 ODI's each year. In winter it becomes home to the AFL side the Brisbane Lions. It did host the touring British Lions RU but the wide cricket oval made veiwing tough. Olympic soccer was also played here in 2000.

A side note - Queensland/Brisbane has not been allocated a Bledisloe (aus v nz) cup match for 6 years, even though we provide half of the Wallabies playing staff. From the two yearly games Sydney gets one and the other has been going to Melbourne because they can hold 80,000 bums. Hardly fair when they don't even play the game down there..

All Melbourne Stadiums are oval because of ariel ping pong but they're huge! The MCG can seat 90,000.

NSW has Aussie Stadium - The Olympic Stadium, running track and all but hosts all major football games. League, soccer, union. There is a purpose build league stadium that also hosts the Super 12 called Sydney Football Stadium and seats close to 40,000. All the minor games are played here.
Sydney also have the SCG for cricket and host the Sydney Swans AFL side.


Bit longer winded than I expected.